It's tough to build up a following on Instagram organically. You can follow people so they (hopefully) follow you back, you can give to receive, etc. but it's still a process that takes time. For many of us out there, we don't want to wait. And although we can build your following for you quickly, some don't want to go that route. We get it- our services aren't right for everyone, and we still want you to dominate on Instagram! Here are 5 tips on how to hack Instagram followers.

The easy ways you can hack Instagram followers are:

Get easy shoutouts

Make your account a business account

Post at optimal times

Make multiple accounts with different specialties

Outsource you account(s)

We'll go over each of these options in this post. If you're just getting started with Instagram, you should check out our article on the Instagram Hack you don't know about yet and learn about how the law of reciprocity can help you build your following.

Get easy shoutouts

Shoutouts are great for getting exposure to a large audience quickly. Essentially, you want to get someone who has a large following to give their followers a link to your account. That way, their followers become your followers.

Search for #shoutoutforshoutout or #s4s for easy shoutout opportunities. Many of the accounts who offer these shoutouts are low quality, but you can get some quick and easy wins in some cases. Reach out to the owners of the accounts directly with a message- don't slow things down with comments to their pictures, etc.

Make your account a business account

This is a little known secret for some. You can make your Instagram account a business account. What's the difference? You get better analytics on a business account, so you can see things like what time of day your followers are most active (ex. so you know the best time to follow people and engage with others who aren't followers).

To make your Instagram account a business account, all you have to do is link it to a Facebook page. You can find more detailed instructions for doing this on the Instagram website here. The additional analytics you get should make it easier to understand when your audience is active, what they care about, and more, so you can more quickly engage new followers. You also get a "contact" button when you make this change.

Post at optimal times

If you're posting great content, you need to make sure it reaches the maximum number of people to build a following. The more people who see your content, the more people who can repost, tag their friends, etc. Think about the people you're targeting. When are they most likely to be checking their phones?

Make sure you're posting at the best times to reach the most followers. You'll also want to use relative hashtags to ensure people who are not following you have a chance to find your info. If you post great content that reaches the maximum number of people, you'll build a following more quickly than if you post during times that people will not see your post.

Make multiple accounts with different specialties

We do this one a lot at Social Network Elite. The benefit of having multiple accounts, is it allows users with different interests to follow the account that is most relevant. It also allows you to cross promote across the different accounts.

For instance, if you're into fitness, then you might want to make a personal account and a fitness account. That way, your followers can follow the account that they care about most. Do you sell to different types of people? Consider having different types of accounts for each one, and you can quickly build a following because your followers can pick the account most relevant to their interests.

Outsource your account

Outsourcing your account means letting a team take care of your Instagram for you. This option is what we offer as a company, but there are other ways to outsource as well. You can find many virtual assistant companies out there, and many of them offer social media services (including Instagram).

Make sure the team you hire knows what they're doing if you're going to outsource. Before you hire them, ask them about how they will increase your following. Ask them for some example clients they've worked with, and check out their social media pages. Do you like what you see? Many virtual assistants will say they can do social media marketing, but have little experience doing so. And you don't want to hire a team to grow you Instagram if you'll just have to tell them what to do every step of the way anyways- you might as well do it yourself. There are many good options out there though. We're a great one :)